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Sunday, January 25, 2015

Grace In Every Day

I have been thinking about grace today. How is grace shown in my life?
Sometimes I'm so busy going from one thing to another that by the
time evening comes, I don't even remember instances where grace has
been demonstrated. I want to change that, and I have made
some progress.

The
days when I am most aware of grace are the ones I spend time walking in the woods
near my house. There are about 900 acres of forest behind my house,
but I don't go very deep into them. For one thing a little ways in it
has a steep downslope. I can actually still see my house if I look in
one direction, but if I turn and face the woods it feels as if I'm
there alone.

It's
this alone time that helps me slow down. I grab my walking stick, put
on my mudboots and head toward an easy place to enter, ready to see
what there is to see. I have found some very interesting formations
on trees.

It is quieter there in the woods making it conducive for contemplation. When I observe the hugeness of the trees and the vastness of the sky,
it reminds me that the God who holds all this in place is the One who
watches over me always.

His
grace covers me.

Probably
all of us have times in our days where God has protected us from
something that we were totally unaware of. Last night coming home
from a bridal shower a young deer came out of nowhere, but my
daughter saw it in time and was able to slow down as it crossed in
front of us, barely making it.

That
same daughter has had some very close calls that made me realize God
is watching over her. Twice in her life she has fallen down a flight
of stairs, once as a baby and once as a teen. When she was three she
rode her tricycle down the four steps leading from our porch but
didn't receive a scratch. Another time she fell out of tree landing
on her back and was fine. Once she fell out of the loft that her
sisters slept in. All of those times and more, I have thanked God
that His hand has protected her.

His
grace covers her.

This
afternoon as I relax in my rocking chair listening to the gentle
music of the porch chimes I think of how blessed I am.

At times I am
tempted to complain about all the repairs and changes we need to make
on the house, but all that
does is take my eyes away from the beauty that is all around me. I
start to think that no one can feel welcome in this house that needs
so much work.

We had visitors last weekend. They showed me that those
things don't really matter. What matters is that we made them feel
welcome sharing what we had. That is also grace at work.

His
grace covers my house.

I
want to be more aware and to be fully present every moment of the
day. I want to see the grace in every situation, including the
unpleasant ones. We
are imperfect people who live in an imperfect world, but God is
working in our lives and in our world through people like you and me.

Why
don't we look for ways this week that we can show grace to others? It
really doesn't take much to smile at someone or to give an
encouraging word to those we see each day. I've found that when I
take the focus off myself, it is much easier to notice those around
me and to offer encouragement.

I
want to make a difference right where I am starting with my
imperfect, wonderful, messy, glorious, beautiful life! Won't
you join me?

Here is a prayer I wrote using a template from the e-course on prayer that my daughter, Jamie, has written and is now teaching. May God grant this for all of us.